The Low Land, where the mists and the sunrise is the most beautiful.

The Low Land from above - Nogat, fot: pomorskie.travel

The Low Land – the region situated among Gdansk, Malbork and Elblag. A special place due to its history, architecture and people who live here. This land has specific geographical location – it is situated in a depression and has to be drained artificially. It is full of rivers, ditches and canals.

The Low Land is associated with mists, sunrise, sunset and willows. Such landscapes are triggering the imagination and the hearts - says Marta Antonina Lobocka, the leader of the organisation “We love Low Land” and a blogger. We discuss what is worth seeing in Low Land with her.

The Low Land, attractions for everyone...

Pomerania is well known and liked Polish region. The most popular is of course the Tricity agglomeration. Kashuby is also well known. When we ask about the Low Land, very few people know the area…

- Yes, indeed, but is changing slowly. Low Land has a lot to offer. Such landscapes and architecture You won’t find anywhere, as well as different kind of attractions. For example, like the narrow gage railway and connected with it the turning bridge in Rybina, which is moved manually by two people. It is a unique view and the only such device in Europe.

On the other hand, the waterways lovers will eagerly visit the Low Land Loop, a unique waterway, where You can also use a houseboat. Low Land people are very friendly, so if You come here once, for sure You will come back… on the bike this time. The area is flat so cycling is very easy here.

Fot. pomorskie.travel

Wooded arcaded houses. Low Land is proud of its characteristic architecture.

- Low Land architecture is very special. In every village we have old huts, many old churches and in many cases living open air museums. There is no other places like that in Poland in case of the details and the whole area. In case of the details in Low Land You can be speechless. You can find special wooden carving decorations of houses made by the hand saws. They are situated usually on the edge of roofs, house entrances or above the windows. They are very decorative and were put not only in houses but also on barns and granaries, which proves how important those building were.

House facade in Low Land, fot. pomorskie.travel

- You are the Low Land passionate. Which places to visit do You recommend most?

- It is worth visiting Nowy Dwór Gdanski first, called the capital of Low Land. There is a Low Land Museum here, so the Low Land Historical Park, where You can learn more about the region. It is a must to have a ride on the narrow gage railway. In open-air wagons we may get from Nowy Dwor Gdanski to Mierzeja Wislana.

I usually take tourists or journalists to Nowy Staw, where we have two market squares and a characteristic tower in a shape of a pencil and a tower of a former evangelical church. You have to try a delicious blueberry cake there.

Windmill in Palczewo, fot: M.Bieliński

Also recommend to visit Palczewo, where there is a small, wooden church and an example of a Dutch windmill. That church is really unique . It is quite ordinary from the outside but the interior is beautifully painted. There are old organs there as well, which are still in use. And the sound which comes out of this instrument is remarkable and You can get goose-flesh and be really moved.

The joinery in Olesnie is also worth mentioning. This is the place which was designed by the citizens themselves, who designed the nice space in the barn.It is used for the cultural events, the library and sleeping facilities.

Low Land is the area of the windmills and many villages, which were the witnesses if the history.

- Zulawki and Drewnica are examples of such spaces, which we can call living open air museums due the fact, there are many artefacts there. We can mention the arcaded houses – the Low Land business card. It is worth mentioning Trutnowy and Marynowy villages, where You can find examples of those. In Cyganek, You can have really good dinner. In Maly Holender You can get meat soup or Mennonite soup. You can also try the local cheese , including the classical, produced according to the pre-war recipe “Werdekase”.

If we search for the old windmills, You can still find two, the most famous in Palczewo and Zulawki. Generally, it is worth visiting Low Land villages. Those are really unique places with a climate, a soul.

The arcaded house in Zulawki, fot: pomorskie.travel

When You mention souls… Low Land cemeteries, that is history itself.

- If someone is interested in a grave art, You really have to visit the cemetery in Stogi, near MAlbork. It is the biggest, well maintained and well known Mennonite cemetery in Low Land. The cemetery in Stawiec, on the other hand, is smaller, but with more climate. Mennonite tombs are unique. They are rich with ornaments connected with symbols. The old church ruins are also worth mentioning, like those in Fiszewo or Steblewo.

Are Low Land mainly rural area?

- Rural and farming. Those are the main landscapes here, where human and the nature are so tightly connected with each other, that image stays in our minds. This landscape is very dissimilar, depending on the season of the year. You can discover this area again and again – depending on the nature.

Low land isthe area full of surprises and mysteries. Discovering them is truly a great fun and adventure.

Pruszcz Gdański

Inhabited by over twenty five thousand residents, Pruszcz Gdański, the capital city of the Gdańsk District, is a town located on the banks of the Radunia River with a settlement tradition going back as far as two thousand five hundred years. Before the Vistula delta region was formed, it was probably in the place of today’s Pruszcz, that a port was established on the estuary to a bay that cut much deeper into the land than it does today, and after centuries it was called Gdańsk Bay.

The frequent presence of merchant caravans wandering along the Amber Route is proven by numerous archaeological findings from Pruszcz itself and from its close vicinity. Among the findings you can encounter artefacts coming from different cultures, including those indicating that the area was visited by merchants coming from today's Mediterranean region, that is from the Roman Empire. Pruszcz's mediaeval history is mainly the blossoming of the village of that time, which enjoyed privileges lavishly granted by the Teutonic Order.

Then it became one of Gdańsk's rural estates. It became particularly important to the Gdańsk economy when, in the 13th Century, the Radunia Canal was constructed. It provided water to a great number of industrial establishments, with the Great Mill just to start with. Since then Pruszcz became an obligatory point on the attack plan of every aggressor thinking about sieging Gdańsk fortress. They always started blocking Gdańsk by cutting off the Radunia Canal in Pruszcz to deprive Gdańsk of the water powering the mills. In the 19th Century modernity came to the settlement, and a railway line was led through it, and then a few industrial establishments were created. As a result, the number of Pruszcz residents grew dramatically; however, the settlement obtained its civic rights as late as in 1945.